U.S. couple order tie, sent social security numbers instead

In a huge order mixup, a U.S. couple order ties and pocket squares from Banana Republic are are sent the confidential files of about 20 former employees, including Social Security numbers and W4 tax forms. (Chip East/Reuters)

With a little more than two weeks to go before their wedding, Emily Dreyfuss's fiancé ordered a tie and pocket square from Gap chain Banana Republic's website to go with his navy blue suit.

What the couple got in the mail instead on Thursday would make an identity thief giddy: the confidential files of about 20 former employees, including Social Security numbers and W4 tax forms.

"We totally laughed," Dreyfuss, 29, said on Friday from her home in Cambridge, Mass.

'We totally laughed.'—Emily Dreyfuss, order recipient

She had misgivings about the package as soon as it arrived. It was really heavy and didn't say Banana Republic, but Gap Inc.

She and her fiancé have been buying each other presents, and she thought it may have been a really heavy piece of clothing with catalogs, said Dreyfuss, the daughter of actor Richard Dreyfuss.

When he opened the package, inside were three folders sealed with tape and labelled "HR Administration." They contained tax and Social Security information as well as handwritten resignation letters, doctors' notes and salary information — seemingly the employees' entire record at the company. The employees were sales support associates and at least one made $9 an hour, Dreyfuss said.

The resignation letters were mostly from March and addressed formally to "Ms." and then the person's first name. They were polite and positive, expressing thanks for the chance to work for the company and learning so much. Some ended by saying, "God Bless."

'God bless'

Dreyfuss, who runs the home page and also writes for technology website, CNET, said she didn't look through everything.

"I got a queasy feeling and felt like I should stop looking at this," she said.

San Francisco-based Gap Inc. blamed the mix-up on a human mistake.

"We're taking immediate action to evaluate and strengthen our processes to prevent mis-mailings in the future and apologize for the error," spokeswoman Edie Kissko said in a statement.

Dreyfuss said a Banana Republic representative has since responded to a tweet about the mix-up and apologized for what he called a "horrible mistake."

'Horrible mistake'

He said clothing and employee information is sent out in the same type of grey plastic bag. The employee information appears to have been mislabelled in this case. The representative said the store would look into what went wrong and informing the former employees, Dreyfuss said. They will send her a self-addressed, stamped envelope to return the information in.

Ironically, Dreyfuss said her fiancé recently received someone else's welcome packet from his new employer, with that employee's salary and Social Security number.

Dreyfuss said the episode with Banana Republic raises concerns about how well the company is safeguarding customer information if even its employees' information can be compromised.

"People should know about this because it's crazy and scary," she said.

In her statement, Kissko said the company takes the confidentiality of personal information very seriously.

Dreyfuss was offered a free tie and pocket handkerchief — a $61 value, but said she declined.